Texas Tech to Distribute Free Birth Control — to Pigeons

Texas Tech's pigeon population poops all over campus. That's no surprise, but the latest plan to curb the issue might be. A team at the university plans to distribute birth control to the birds to reduce their numbers, and therefore, the poop. The pigeons will keep laying eggs, but the eggs won't fertilize, Erin Bohlander, a Ph.D. student in the Natural Resource Management Program at Texas Tech told EverythingLubbock.com. The students and administrators hope to decrease the pigeon population by 90 to 95 percent by filling feeders with a mix of "Ovo," the edible birth control, and cracked corn, Bohlander said. "It breaks up the layers so the egg yolk and egg white do not connect," she said. Sean Childers, assistant vice president of operations at Texas Tech, told EverythingLubbock.com that the university spends more than $100,000 each year to clean up pigeon excrement. Childers, who's heading the project, said it won't immediately cut costs, but is expected to drastically do so later. "We wanted to take a step back and think more globally," Childers said. "How can we get ahead of this situation? What can we do that is non-harmful and humane and get ahead of the population?"  Continue reading...